The See vacant almost
a whole Year.

Sixtus being dead, and the Christians prevented by the Persecution from assembling to chuse another in his room, the See remained vacant almost a whole Year, that is, from the 6th of August 258. to the 22d of July 259. when Dionysius, a Presbyter of the Church of Rome, whom we have mentioned above, was elected, to the great Satisfaction of the Faithful; for he was one of the most eminent Men of his Time both for Piety and Learning[[467]]. During his Pontificate, the Goths broke into the Empire, over-ran all Asia Minor, and, having almost utterly destroyed the City of Cæsarea, they carried with them into Captivity most of its Christian Inhabitants. Firmilian was then Bishop of the Place, who had censured the Conduct of Stephen with so much Sharpness and Acrimony; |Dionysius’s Charity to
the distressed Chris-
tians of Cæsarea.| but the Remembrance of what had passed on that unhappy Occasion had not that Effect on Dionysius, which far less Provocations have had on many of his Successors; for he no sooner heard of the Distress that Church was in, than, laying hold of so favourable an Opportunity to exert his Charity, he writ a Letter to comfort them in their Calamity, and at the same time dispatched proper Persons with large Collections to ransom the Christians who had fallen into the Hands of the Barbarians[[468]]. The Letter, which Dionysius wrote on this Occasion, was carefully kept in the Archives of the Church of Cæsarea, as an authentic Monument of his Goodness and Charity[[469]]. The great Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria having, at this Time, composed a learned Treatise to prove against Sabellius the Distinction of the Divine Persons, some over-zealous Catholics, misconstruing several Passages in that Work, and concluding that he had run into the opposite Error, accused him to the Bishop of Rome, as if he denied the Son to be consubstantial with the Father[[470]]. |Dionysius of Alex-
andria, accused at
Rome over him.| Hereupon the Bishop of Rome, having assembled a Council, acquainted Dionysius with the Sentiments of the other Bishops, and his own, expressing his Concern, that the Divinity of the Word should have been questioned by him, and at the same time desiring him to answer the Accusation[[471]]. This Dionysius readily did in Four Books, which he styled Confutation and Apology; shewing therein that his Opinion was very different from what it had been represented at Rome, and explaining those Passages which had given Ground for the Accusation. This Work he addressed to the Bishop of Rome[[472]]. Here Baronius exults. Behold, says he, one of the most eminent Prelates of the Church, upon Suspicion of Heresy, arraigned at Rome, judged at Rome. |That argues no
Jurisdiction in the
Bishop of Rome.| Who does not see a supreme Tribunal erected there, to which all Causes must be brought; a sovereign Judge residing there, by whom all Persons must be absolved or condemned; is either blind and cannot see, or shuts his Eyes and will not see[[473]]. And does not the sharp-sighted Annalist himself see what every one the least conversant in Ecclesiastical History must see, if he is not either blind and cannot, or shuts his Eyes and will not see, viz. Bishops, when guilty, or only suspected of Heresy, accused to some of their Collegues, who neither had nor claimed any Jurisdiction over them? Thus was the famous Paul of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch, at this very Time, accused by his whole Church, first to Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria, and soon after to Firmilian Bishop of Cæsarea[[474]]. That such an Accusation argued any Jurisdiction in those Bishops over the Bishop of Antioch, is what Baronius himself dares not affirm; and yet a like Accusation brought to Rome is enough for him to transform that See into a supreme Tribunal; that Bishop, though far from such ambitious Thoughts, into a sovereign Judge. But the Bishop of Rome, says Baronius, required of Dionysius a Confession or Declaration of his Faith: And does not that argue Superiority and Jurisdiction? Baronius himself knew it does not: for it is impossible he should not know, that when a Bishop was suspected of Heresy, all his Collegues had a Right to require of him Confession of his Faith, and not to communicate with him till they had received it.

Paul Bishop of
Antioch condemned
and deposed,

In the Time of Dionysius was held the famous Council of Antioch, which condemned and deposed Paul Bishop of that City, who denied the Distinction of the Divine Persons, and the Divinity of Christ. Of the Deposition of Paul, and the Election of Damnus, who was placed in his room, Notice was immediately given to the whole Church, by a Synodal Letter addressed to Dionysius Bishop of Rome, and to Maximus, who had succeeded the great Dionysius in the See of Alexandria[[475]]. And here it will not be foreign to my Purpose to observe, that the Bishop of Antioch was summoned to appear before the Council, and not at the supreme Tribunal erected by Baronius at Rome; |without the Consent
or Knowlege of the
Bishop of Rome.| that he was condemned and deposed without the consent or Concurrence, nay, and without the Knowlege of the sovereign Judge residing at Rome; that he did not appeal to him, which he certainly would have done, as he was a Man of unparalleled Impudence and Ambition, had such a Custom obtained in those Days; and lastly, that the Fathers of the Council writ to the Bishop of Rome in the same Manner as they did to other Bishops, letting him know, that for the future he was to communicate with Damnus, and not with Paul. All this is manifest from the Account which St. Basil gives us of that Council[[476]]. And yet Baronius brings in that Father, even on this Occasion, as an Evidence for the Papal Supremacy[[N9]].

[N9]. For by wrong pointing a Passage in the Latin Translation of that Author, he makes him contradict himself, and ascribe the deposing of Paul to Dionysius Bishop of Rome, and the Great Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria, though the latter was dead before Paul was deposed, as is evident from the Letter which was written by the Council on that Occasion, and is addressed to Maximus the Successor of Dionysius in the See of Alexandria[[1]]. The Passage runs thus; Duo enim Dionysii diu ante eos septuaginta fuere, qui Samosatensem sustulere, quorum alter Romæ, alter Alexandriæ Præsul erat[[2]]. The Meaning of St. Basil is, that the two Dionysius’s flourished before the Council of Antioch, which consisted of Seventy Bishops, and deposed Paul of Samosata; that is, before the Second Council that was assembled against him; for another had been convened in the same City about eight Years before to depose him; but upon his pretending to renounce his Errors, the Sentence had been suspended. The above-quoted Passage Baronius stops thus; Duo enim Dionysii diu ante eos septuaginta fuere; qui Samosatensem deposuere, &c. so that the Relative qui refers, according to this Method of Pointing, to the Two Dionysius’s, and not to the Seventy Bishops: as if St. Basil had said, The Two Dionysius’s, who deposed Paul of Samosata, flourished before the Council of Antioch, which was composed of Seventy Bishops[[3]]. So that Paul must be twice deposed, St. Basil must contradict himself, all the Writers of those Times must be arraigned as guilty of an unpardonable Omission, lest the Bishop of Rome should appear to have been, what he really was, an idle Spectator of a Transaction so famous in the History of the Church. A Writer of any Honour or Honesty had rather give up a Cause, than expose himself thus by attempting to defend it.

[1]. Euseb. l. 7. c. 30.

[2]. Basil. de syn. p. 918.

[3]. Bar. ad ann. 265. n. 10.